Friday, May 21, 2010

Both of these videos are California Love. The first is the original release and the second is a remix, but the first video has a to be continued ending that leads into the second, but videos have little else in common.

The first is an homage to the 80s post-apocalyptic classic Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome starring Tina Turner and everyone's favorite anti-semite Mel Gibson. This video also has some star appearances. In the beginning you will see pre-Rush HourChris Tucker and the godfather of funk, George Clinton. Then, dance party in the Thunderdome! Its pretty unique for a rap video. The second is your standard dance party rap video.

California Love is one of the best rap dance songs of the 90s and easily the most famous 2pac song. The song came out and went to the top of charts, but it was while 2pac was still in prison for a sexual assault charge. When he got out, 2pac was at the height of his career.

However, the mid 90s was not a good time for musicians at the height of their career. Only a couple months after Kurt Cobain of Nirvana died, 2pac was almost killed in an robbery in New York that has long been suspected to be part of an feud between East and West Coast rappers. 2pac survived, but two years later, months after Brad Newell of Sublime died, 2pac was shot again and this time he was killed. Many implicate Notorious B.I.G. along with other East Coast rappers like Sean "Puffy" "P. Diddy" "Puff Daddy" "Diddy" Combs in the shootings, nothing has ever been proven. A year later, when Notorious B.I.G. was on West Coast turf, he was gunned down and killed.

Now, its widely suspected that Death Row Records founder Shug Knight orchestrated the murders of both 2pac and Notorious B.I.G. Several cases have been brought against NYPD officers that worked for Shug Knight, but nothing has stuck.